Floor-planing machine



Dec. 8, 1925- J. E.'H|Rl:s

FLOOR PLANING MACHINE Filed Sept.`25, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 CJi Patented Dec. 8, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN EDG-AR HIRES, OF LANGHOENE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO AUTOMATIC MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

FLOOR-PLANING MACHINE.

Application filed September 25, 1924. Serial No. 739,759.

Q 1o all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN EDGAR I-Irnns, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Langhorne, county of Bucks, and

5 State of Pennsylvania, have invented cereach other and impregnated with creosote or other tarry or gummy substances.

Floors and pavements of this character are at present in extensive use, being employed both in industrial establishments and in street paving, the individual blocks being laid side by side and ordinarily with their grain running vertically. The blocks are generally impregnated before laying with creosote or other tarry or gummy substances and moreover are sometimes laid with a similar tarry or gummy binding material in the interstices between the blocks, and it is found that aft-er a floor of this character has been vsubjected to heavy wear for a certain period of time in an industrial establishment or the like or has been exposed to vehicular traflio in the case of street paving, the exposed or upper' surface thereof becomes uneven and presents a more or less undulating appear ance. To remedy this condition it therefore becomes necessary to either plane off the surface of thefloor or paving or else to take up the blocks and entirely re-lay itewhich latter is, of course, a matter involving considerable expense as well as one which renders the fioor unusable during the taking up and re-laying operation. Various machines have therefore been proposed for the purpose of planing and truing up the floor or paving surface but none of them, so far as I am aware, have been successful in operation for the reason that the creosote or other tarry or gummy substance with which the blocks are impregnated, and frequently in which they are laid as well, adheres tothe cutters of the machine and rapidly renders them useless so that, among other things, the time required for the constant cleaning of the cutters prevents the satisfactory commercial employment of such machines. Additionally, as

the grain of the blocks is usually disposed to run in a vertical direction, the cut is required to be taken across the grain and where the cutters or knives of the machine are disposed on the peirphery of a cylinder located on a horizontal aXis in a manner similar to an ordinary wood planing machine or a lawn mower the blades or cutters have a tendency to tear the wood and do not produce a smoothly finished surface. A still further disadvantage in the use of machines of the types hithertoproposed resides in the fact that in the wood block'floorings of industrial establishments pieces of steel and other metal frequently become imbedded which, when encountered bya blade or cutter, nick or break the same unless the cutter is of such construction and sufficiently hard, as is not usually the case with floor planing machines, to cut through the metal without injury toitself.

It is therefore, as hitherto stated, an' object of my invention to provide a machine which may be utilized to plane and true up wood block floors or pavings of the character aforesaid so as to satisfactorily produce a true plane surface thereon irrespective of the presence of gummy or tarry materials in the blocks or in the interstices therebetween and of the direction of the natural grain of the blocks. A further object of the invention is the provision of a machine adapted for the aforesaid purpose and employing a cutter of such nature that the presence of metallic particles in the paving will not result in substantial injury thereto, the cutter being effective to cut through such particles, or even pieces of greater size, in a manner similar to the cutter of a metal working machine, said cutter in its preferred embodiment employing a plurality of removable and replaceable blades each of relatively small size which may be manufactured from a steel having suitablecharacteristics and which may be tempered and ground individually before assembly in the cutter head and easily removed therefrom when desired for re-grinding so that the cutter may be readily maintained at all times in condition for maximum eciency of operation.

My invention further includes such other objects and novel features of construction and arrangement as are hereinafter referred to or which vmay be 4apparent .from the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof.

lll)

Viewed in its broader aspect my improved machinecomprises a frame adapted to be moved over the floor which is to be planed and to be stationarily supported at different points thereon, in association with means operative to drive a suitable cutter disposed at the lower' end of a vertically extending shaft together with means whereby the eutter may be caused to operate upon substantially the entire. area of the floor included within the frame, the plane of rotation of thev cutter, and in consequence the amount of material removed thereby from the floor, being determined 'by the vertically adjusted position of the cutter with respect to the frame by which it as well as the aforesaid means is supported.

While the different means and instrumentalities to which reference has just been made may be of any form suitable for attaining the object of my invention, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings and'will now proceed to describe one form of machine constructed in accorda-nce therewith and which I have found capable of producing most eflicient and satisfactory results in practical operation, Fig. 1 in said drawings being a top plane view of the machine; Fig. 2 an enlarged fragmentary vertical section with certain parts in elevation on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows, and Fig. 3 a fragmentary horizontal section on line 3-3 in Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows. Like numerals are used to designate the same parts in the. several figures.

Referring now to the drawings, the machine therein shown comprises an open rectangular frame having side members 2, 2 and end members 3, 3, all preferably formed separately and secured together at the corners by bolts 4, 4f. or in any other suitable way, thus providing a rigid and, preferably, relatively heavy structure, all of the parts of which are maintained in fixed alignment with each other and incapable of any material distortion under any strains or stresses to which the machine is designed to he subjected. While the frame members may be of any suitable contour I prefer to employ members of substantially channel shape each having a vertically extending relatively wide web 5, a lower flange or foot 6 and an upper frange or head 7 and for the purpose of strengthening the members I may dispose vertically extending stiffening webs 8 at suitable intervals between their ends, the several webs and flanges composingeach member being preferably cast or otherwise formed as an integral unit.

For the purpose of enabling the frame to be conveniently moved from point to point over a iioor or other surface, I provide beneath the lower flanges 6 of the different members a plurality of rollers or casters 9 supported on holaontal pivots carried in U-shaped brackets 10 which in turn are carried on vertical pivots 11 extending through the flanges 6 and supporting pads 12 bolted to the under faces Athereof, the arrangement being suc-h that the casters can swing about the pivots 11 to enable the frame to be readily rolled from place to place. Means are also provided for supporting the frame in a horizontal position at any desired point and irrespective of irregularities in 'the contour of the surface above which it is disposed, said means preferably comprising an externally threaded elevating screw 14: disposed adjacent each corner'of the frame and extending vertically through an internally threaded sleeve 15 conveniently cast integral with the end member and disposed substantially in the angle formed in the'adjacentcorner of the frame, the elevating screw being of suiiicient length to project below and above the frame and being provided at its lower end with la foot 1G. At the upper end of each screw and above the frame may be disposed a hand wheel 18 by means of which the screw may be turned when desired and a locking hand wheel 19 having a hub 20 adapted to engage the upper end of the sleeve may also be provided on each screw so that by screwing the hub down against the end of the sleeve the screw may be locked in any position of vertical adjustmens with respect thereto.

The frame is operative to support the cutter driving and traversing mechanism, comprising a cutter spindle 25 disposed within a vertically extending sleeve 26 in turn supported within a vertically extending housing 27, conveniently of generally cylindrical form, and having an integral boss 28 about midway of its upper and'lower ends; this boss is provided on each side with outwardly extending lugs 29 which enters and form a good sliding fit in grooves arranged in a pair of ways 30 disposed between the side members 2 of `the frame andY parallel to the end members thereof, the ways being spaced apart sufficiently to accommodate the boss 28 between them and tied together near their ends by cross members 30', the ways and cross members thus forming a substantially rectangular open frame. For convenience of manufacture the grooves in the ways may be formed by suitably chamfering out the inner upper corner of each way so as to accommodate the lug 29 and securing a keeper bar 31 above the lug Ias by screws 32 in suoli manner that the lugs are held snugly but slidably in the grooves, thereby enabling the housing to be moved longitudinally ofthe ways and thus transversely of the main frame. For effecting this movement of the housing I provide a cross feed screw 35 journaled in supports 36 carried yby one of the waysi and extending through and cooperating with a nut 37 suitably mounted on the boss 28, the screw extending above the plane of the ways and projecting over one of the side frame members so as to clear the same, the extreme outer end of the screw being provided with a hand wheel 38 by means of which the screw may be conveniently rotated.

The ways 30 are supported at theirl extremities yon the side members 2, 2 of the frame and in slidable relation therewith, convenient-ly by chamfering out the inner corner ofthe head 7 of each side member so as to form an open groove 40 for the reception of the ends of the ways and then securing a flat bar or strip 4l thereabove as by screws 42 so as to hold the ways down against the bottom of the groove while permitting them to slide longitudinally thereof. For effecting this longitudinal movement of the ways l may provide the upper faces of thebars 41 with rack teeth 43 adapted for cooperation with pinions 44 mounted adjacent the ends of a transversely extending shaft 45 journaled in brackets 46 carried by the ways, one end of this shaft overhanging one of the side members and being provided with a hand wheel 47 by which it may be conveniently rotated. Preferably the cross feed screw 35 may be supported adjacent one of the ways 30 and the shaft 45 adjacent the other and the hand Wheels 38 and 47 disposed adjacent the same side member of the frame and relatively near each other so as to permit the convenient actua* tion of both wheels by the operator without changing his position.

It will thus be apparent that the housing 27 and its attached parts may be moved transversely of the frame, that is, parallel to the end members 3, 3 thereof, by suitable rotation of the hand wheel 38, and that the ways themselves, carrying with them the housing, may be moved longitudinally of the frame, that is, parallel to the side members 2, 2, by rotation of the hand wheel 47; thus by suitable manipulation of these wheels the housing and its attached parts may be` caused to move over substantially the entire area included within the frame.

As hitherto stated, the cutter spindle 25 is contained within a sleeve 26 disposed within the housing 27, bronze or other suitable bushings 50 and 51 being located adjacent the bottom and top of the sleeve to form suitable journals for the spindle, and since in the operation of the machine it is requisite to effect vertical adjustment of the cutter spindle with respect to the housing 27, and, correspondingly, with respect to the frame, means are provided for vertically moving the cutter spindle and sleeve as a unit within the housing and for maintain- Ving these parts in any desired position of vertical adjustment therein, as well as means for preventing any longitudinal movement of the cutter shaft with respect to the sleeve. To this end the lower extremity of the cutter spindle, which is arranged to project below the lower end of the sleeve, is provided with a collar 54 pinned or otherwise rigidly secured to the spindle, the upper face of which is adapted to bear against the lower end of the bushing 50 which is count-ersunk and iixedly secured in the sleeve and may be provided with a flange at its lower end between the end of the sleeve and the collar. The sleeve is also arranged to project somewhat below the end of the housing but terminates at its upper end considerably below the upper end of the latter, and for taking up and preventing longitudinal play between the spindle and the sleeve the spindle is threaded above the end of the sleeve and provided with an annular adjusting nut and a lock nut 56, a liber thrust washer 57 being preferably inserted between the upper end of the bushing 5l and the lower face of the adjusting nut. To enable the nuts to be actuated, the housing is provided with a suitably positioned horizontally disposed slot 59 through which a Spanner wrench may be inserted to engage the nuts when they are brought into alignment with the slot by suitable vertical adjustment of the spindle -and sleeve. Thus by means of the nut 55, the collar 54 can be drawn snugly against the end o f the bushing 50 and when this adjustment has been effected and the adjusting nut locked in place by the lock nut 56 no relative longitudinal movement or end play can take place between the spindle and the sleeve 26, these part-s being thus constrained to move as a unit within the housing enclosing the sleeve when the sleeve is actuated through the means now to be described. l

In the operation of the machine the depth of cut to be taken on the surface which is being planed is ordinarily determined by the vertically adjusted posit-ion of the cutter with respect to the frame or, in other words, since the cutter is carried at the f lower end of the cutter spindle, by the vertically adjusted position of the cutter spindle and sleeve with respect thereto, and for effecting this adjustment may provide the sleeve at a point above the boss 28 with a vertically extending rack 60 secured to the exterior of the sleeve in any suitable way and extending within a groove 6l formed within the housing, the wall of the latter being slotted or cut away adjacent the groove so as to expose the rack teeth and permit their cooperation with a pinion 62 disposed on a short horizontally extending shaft 63 j ournaled in a bracket 64 carried by the boss 28. rlhis shaft is also operative to support a wormV gear 65 cooperative with a worm GT, the arrangement tlr'f' rotation ot 2. the worin so as to rotate shaft 33 through the ineduun of the worin gear G5 wzth corresponding rotation of pinion (t2v air-'l resuti ff vertical C f more/ment ot the rari: ti-(, sleeve 2S and cutter spind,.e is du the operation of the machine the parts there-:of :ire subjected to considerable vibration whicl'i might cause the cutter sg'iindic and .sl-,cere to ually depart from their prcdeteri r, adjusted position l prefer to provide some form of locking inea is adapted to positively lock the sleeve wir in the hour-fing after the desired adjusr eef is effected. rllo this endl Vl may tl. e split the upper end of the housing by i c downwardly extending slot lli therein and provide the housing adjacent the sides of the slot w't" complementary be 7 l. rthrough tl c bosses a short sh 2` is passed and provided with a suitable cam or anis (not shown) and a sinn-ll ac` ating lever 7?) in such manner that part al rotation of the shaft through the medium of the lever effective to cause the cams to slightly constrict the housing so as to very firmly clamp it against the cf. erior of the sleeve and thus prevent the sleeve from being jarred or otherwise moved from the position of adjustment to which it may have been brought with respect to the housing. As clamping means of the nature of those just described are of well known form and construction more speci lic description thereof 'would be superfiuous.

The rotation or d rive of the cutter spil".- dle within the sleeve may be accomplished through the medium of a bevel gear which rests on the upper end of the housing and surrounds the projecting end of the spindle, the gear being splined to the latter by a spline 7 6 so as to rotate with the shaft but be capable of sliding longitudinally thereon so as to permit the required vertical adjustment of the shaft with respect to the housing. Motion is imparted to gear 75 through a bevel 77 forming part of a suitable train, generally designated as 78, interposed between gear 77 and the shaft 79 of a motor` SO supported on a bracket 8l rising from and carried by the boss 28, the current being brought to the motor by a flexible cable (not shown) so as to enable the motoil to move with the housing and boss as the cutter moves over the surface which is being planed.

While the cutter employed in the machine may be of any suitable form and construction, I prefer to utilize a cutter having a head and afplurality of removable and reslots, preferably of rectangular cross section, disposed radially with respect to the body. Seated on the conical face of the body is a ring 86 having its inner face inclined in correspondence with the inclination of the body and secured in position by screws S7 extending through the ring and intothe body, the ring being thus effective to close the open side of the slots. This manner of constructing the cutter head is of convenience from the manufacturing standpcints it facilitates the cutting of the slots by enabling them to be formed in the body .by a milling operation or the like before the ring is positioned thereon; if desired, however, the cutter head may be formed in a single piece and the holes for the cutter blades breached or otherwise formed therein. No attempt has been made in the drawings to specifically illustrate the exact form of the cutting edges of the cutter blades 88 as the same is capable of considerable variation, the particular method of grinding ernployed being largely a matter of choice and also depending somewhat upon the nature of the surface upon which the cutting operation is to be performed. It will be understood therefore that the cutter blades are indicated more or less typically in so far as their cutting extremities are concerned but that each blade is provided with a shank 88 which extends upwardly and seats in one of the slots in the `head and is secured in position therein in any convenient way as by a set screw 89 extending through the ring 86 and bearing on the shank, the head of the screw being preferably disposed in a countersink 90 in the face of the ring. Thus by loosening the set screws the individual blades may be readily adjusted so as to bring all of the cutting edges into a plane normal to the axis of the head and located at a suitable distance below the lower face thereof and further, when required the blades can be readily removed for resharpening or replaced by other blades if desired.

The operation of the machine will now be described: Assuming it be desired to plane the undulating surface of a worn wood block flooring F and that the cutter head, with the blades properly set and secured, is assembled on the cutter spindle, the machine is first rolled to some convenient-l lOl) eif-

point on the'fioor, preferablya corner of the room, upon the castersQ, and the elevating Screws at the severa-l corners of the frame then operated so as to lift the weight of the machine off the casters and transfer it to the feet 16 at the same time bringing the upper surface of the frame to a horizontal position as determined by spirit levels placed on the side and end members of the frame. The hand wheels 387and 47 are then operated so as to bring the cutter to any convenient point within the frame and the motor started so as to rotate the cutter which is thenmoved down by operation of the hand wheel 67, the small lever 7 3 being in unlocked position, until a sufficient depth of cut is attained in the floor to go slightly below the greatest depth of the undulations therein. The locking lever 7 3 is then thrown so as to lock the spindle sleeve in the housing and prevent it from `gradually moving from the position of adjustment to which it has been brought, and the hand wheels 38 and 47 are manipulated in such a way as to cause the rotating cutter to gradually 'traverse substantially the 4entire area bounded by the frame,vthus removing all of the undulations and high spots in that area and producing a plane horizontal surface on the floor. After that portion of the door included in the frame has been thus subjected to the action of the cutter the operator conveniently stretches a cord or wire across the whole oor coincident with the upper edge of the frame and in a horizontal position, securing the ends thereof to the walls of the room or other convenient support, then raises thecutter so as to clear the floor, operates the elevating screws so as to lower the frame on the casters and then rolls the machine to a new position adjacent and partially overlapping the area. which has just been planed. The elevating screws are then operated in a reverse direction so as to again transfer the weight of the frame thereto and bring its upper edge to alignment with the cord. the frame being o course simultaneously leveled so as to occupy a horizontal position. The cutter is again lowered till its cutting edges are in the plane of the surface which it has already traversed and locked in that position. and the hand wheels 38 and 47 are once more operated so as to cause the cutter to traverse the new area. included within the frame. Thus by consecutively moving the frame from one position to another on the Hoor the cutter may be caused to traverse the entire area thereof and thereby produce a smooth plane horizontal surface thereon, irrespective of the refractory nature of the blocks of which it is composed and of the presence of tarry or gummy substances in the blocks themselves or in the interstices )5 therebetween. Moreover, as the cutter teeth are sutiiciently hard andv preferably of a andin fact for the truing up of many sorts l of surfaces. Moreover, .while I have herein described and illustrated one 'embodiment of 'the invention with considerable particularity, I do not thereby desire orintend to in any way limit myself specifically thereto or to any precise details of construction or arrangement of the various parts as the same are capable of considerable modification from those shown and described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States:

l. A floor planing machine -comprising an open frame, casters adapted to support the frame for movement over the surface to be planed, an elevating screw adjacent each corner of the frame and having a foot disposed below the frame, said screws being adapted, when suitably' adjusted, to raise the weight of the frame from the casters and transfer it to their respective feet resting on Said surface and to bring the frame to a horizontal position irrespective of irregu-v larities in said surface, transversely extending ways'within the frame'movable longi-l tudinally thereof, means for moving the ways, a housing slidable on the ways transversely of the frame, means for sliding the housing on the ways, a vertically extendingf cutter spindle rotatably mounted in the housing, means for effecting vertical adjustment of the spindle with respect to the frame, means for locking the spindle in predeter mined adjusted position, means carried by the housing for driving the spindle, and a cutter mounted on the lower end of the spindle for rotation in a horizontal plane.

2. A ioor planing machine comprising a relatively heavy open frame rectangular in planary outline, casters supported beneath the frame and capable of universal hori-` zontal movement relative thereto whereby the frame may be rolled over the floor to be planed to a predetermined position thereon, a vertically extending screw disposed adjacent each corner of the frame, projecting therebelow and provided with a foot disposed on its lower end whereby when the .screw is downwardly projected with respect to :the frame the weight of the frame may `be transferred from the adj acentcasterto the foot, a pair of spaced ways extending transversely of thev frame and supported by the side members thereof, said ways being capable of sliding .movement longitudinally of the fra-me, `means for sliding the ways on the frame, a housing supported on the ways and capable of movement thereon transversely of the frame, means for moving the housing on the ways, ya vertically extending cutter spindle within the housing, means for effecting vertical adjustment of the spindle in the housing and with respect to the frame, means for lock-ing tlhe spindle in predetermined adjusted position `in the housing, means carried by the ways and connected with the spindle for rotating theI spindle, and a cutter disposed at the lower end of the spindle.

3. A door planing machine comprising a relatively heavy rectangular open frame, a plurality of casters supported beneath theI frame and operative :to carry the weight of the frame as it is rolled from one position to another on the floor lto be planed, a vertically extending screw disposed adjacent each corner of the frame and extending there below, means for raising and lowering each screw whereby the weight of the frame may be lifted from the .casters and transferred to screws and the frame brought to a horizontal position irrespective of differences in ele` vation between the several points of con tact of the different screws with the ioor, means for locking each screw in predetermined position, a pair of spaced ways supported on the sides `of the frame and movable longitudinally thereof, means for moving said ways, a housing supported between the ways and slidable longitudinally thereof, means for sliding said housing on the ways, a sleeve supported in the housing, a verti- `cally extending cutter spindle supported in the sleeve for rotation therein, a cutter carried by the lower end of the spindle, means for raising and lowering the sleeve and spindle so as to bring the cutter Vto a predetermined position relatively to the ways and frame irrespective of the vertically adjusted height of the latter as it is supported on said screws, means for locking ing the spindle.

1l. ln a floor planing machine, the combination of a vertically disposed rotatable cutter spindle adapted to receive a cutter at its lower extremity, a housing supporting the spindle means associated with thc spindle for effecting its rotation, a pair of ways carrying the housing, means for effecting movement of the housing longitudinally of the ways, an open rectangular frame having side and end members, said side members supporting the ends of the ways, means for moving the ways on said side members, a plurality of casters disposed beneath the frame and adapted to carry the weight there of and permit said frame to be moved over the surfaces to be planed, and a vertically extending screw disposed adjacent each corner of the frame and adapted to be projected therebelow to elevate the frame and transfer the weight thereof to the screws when the frame is brought to operative position on said surface, the weight of the frame and associated parts being suflicient to cause the frame to remain immovable against the thrust of the cutter when in operation without other support than that accorded by said screws.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 23rd day of September, 1924i.

JOHN EDGAR HIRES. 

